Are you sitting down?

[janestarz]

The phone rang; or as the Greek so eloquently pit it, it beat. I answered it.
"Who is this?" the man on the other end asked. I repeated my name.
"This is Thingy from the Swiss nationalbank in Zürich." he continued. "Are you sitting down?"
What a weird question. In the background Dio's voice was drumming from the speakers, after a link Voltar posted. Good song.
"Er, yes?" I said then. I was literally on the edge of the couch. Otherwise my fingers couldn't reach the keyboard.
"We sent you a letter;" said mr Thingy on the other end of the line; "but it could be it still needs to arrive. I get to congratulate you. Every day we call a number of people and the first fifty that answer their phone are selected."
I noted that he didn't mention what we would be selected for.
"This action is sponsored by great brands such as BMW, Ikea, Hornbach..."
"How did you get this number?" I asked, but the litany continued.
"...and this means that you could get paid up to three thousand euro's each month. But it doesn't end there. Electronics, mobile phones..."
"How did you get this number." I repeated, this time at a point where I suspected he might need some breath.
The litany continued. I suspected it was a recording. Three thousand euro a month eh? I don't make anywhere near that kind of money.

I hung up.

Fucking spam.

Comments

[sna.livejournal.com]

It has been going around. They actually later in the recording make you answer a few questions which is then montaged in a tape that makes it seem that you bought their overpriced product. Fucking spam, indeed.

[nathreee.livejournal.com]

Luckily recordings are easy to spot with questions like "How did you get this number?" or "What is this about?". Who falls for this shit anymore? Good thing you hung up.

[anemoona.livejournal.com]

Or wait a few seconds before saying your name. Then the voice will answer first and you know it's a tape.

[nachtvisser.livejournal.com]

Just start asking questions. No answer? Hang up. I like the conversations with the call centres the most. If and when I'm in the mood I'll be asking them all kinds of questions instead of being asked. Creates hilarious situations. Only thing is that they ring at the times that normal people start having supper. So a formal 'Drop dead Fred' is the most common thing that leaves my mouth.

[alhandra-s.livejournal.com]

My mum got a phone call like that a few months back only these guys were not simple spammers, they wanted to get my mum's account numbers and so on from her life insurance. We called her bank and they told that a scam artist was active...

so even though it was a real person, don't trust them!

[aroka.livejournal.com]

The software behind this particular Zurich spam is actually smart enough to detect pauses without anything being spoken, so it's not just a recording. It isn't any smarter though... main trick is: never fall for anything that asks your name.. they called you in the first place right? So how come they don't know?

A friend of mine also received this particular call recently, and he took a recording of it, which you can listen to online. Check here: http://stuvel.eu/archive/124/pas-op-scammers-via-de-telefoon - (Dutch only)

[janestarz.livejournal.com]

That's the same recording I had. Scary!

[margrietje.livejournal.com]

I get a little spooked by things like this. Really feels like a attack on your privacy, but very clever. I expect a lot of old ladies will fall for it...

[margrietje.livejournal.com]

I get a little spooked by things like this. Really feels like an attack on your privacy, but very clever. I expect a lot of old ladies will fall for it...